With the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook already having been announced, the time has come for the the device to be released. Starting today Bell, TELUS and Rogers have begun offering the 4G LTE version which gets spec upgrade from that of the Wi-Fi only version.

All carriers signed on for release have the device available via their website with prices all starting at $550 outright. TELUS decided to not offer any contract pricing while Bell and Rogers offer a reduction of pricing to $350, should you go with a new three-year contract. Rogers is also offering the device on one and two-year contracts, with one-year costing $500 and two-year set at $450. Picking one up? Sound off in the comments.

I agree... I love my 2 playbooks (Wifi only) which were $199. But there is no way the Playbook 4G at $350 can compete with Samsung's Tablet at $199 on 3-year contract.

I feel like this is a corporate-user offering. No regular private consumer is going to pay that kind of money for the extra security features.

Besides, a private consumer can just bridge to their phone or use the hotspot feature (like I do) since I have a Torch 9810.

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And to mention... Someone said before, the carriers are probably setting the prices more than RIM is. So I believe they are trying to squeeze out as much profit from the corporate buyers, and don't expect too many sales to consumers which is why they have no reason to price it low to compete. Corporate users will still buy it, and the carriers can make lots of profit.

It's the "cost-sales" profit curve... Yes, you lower the price but probably not increase the amount of sales significantly. At that price, the corporations will still buy it.... And any that rely on RIM technology or specific secure apps will do so. Consumers will not touch this tablet and so there will be NO significant increase in sales with lowered prices.... Until maybe the price drops down to the low $200's with a 3-year contract (remember the carrier can subsidize these, so they don't mind pricing it even LOWER than the Wifi-only version, because they can get you later on the 3-year contract fees anyways since they pad those to pay for the device over 3 years... That's how they offer you a Blackberry phone for free also)!

I agree, let's not compare to the Kindle Fire or Nexus 7. Let's compare to the Samsung Galaxy Tablet... $199 on contract.

Even if Playbook has better hardware than Samsung, you cannot expect it to be that much more. I mean, $350 versus $200 is a big jump up.

I think the pricing is definitely a CARRIER-controlled issue and they are sabotaging RIM here. They look to be going after corporate markets, and RIM cannot piss off the carriers which they need.

Apple on the other hand, can dictate whatever they want to Carriers and the carriers will bend over backwards due to the market demand. RIM doesn't seem to have as much influence here it looks. So carriers just want to profit as much as possible.... They may not even want to sell it, and only doing it because of the high margin they can expect.

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What I am afraid of here is that when the BB10 phone comes out, that it will be priced so out-of-the-ballpark that it will discourage people from even trying it.

If the BB10 is much more than an iPhone 5, it may not move due to the much higher and proven market demand for the iPhone and the longer time the platform has had. Also, consider the number of fairly nice Android phones out there also under $200, not to mention Windows 8, we need to see BB10 priced aggressively if RIM is going to claw it's way back and convert people.

As innovative and cool as BB10 will be, the majority of people are only willing to pay so much for a phone that they will have for a couple of years. So if it is not an absolute hit or killer product, I am worried that people may adopt other handsets.

RIM should hopefully be able to "wrangle" up their carriers and make sure that the BB10 handsets are going to be ultra-competitive. I really want to see people being impressed not only with the quality of the BB10 phone, but also that they don't have to fork out an arm-and-a-leg for it!

I think Obama did his part. Blame the Republicans for trying to stop it. At least he got a lot more people covered than had been before (ps. You're welcome to move here) :). Go to the doctor, present your Care Care. Handle your business, then leave. No paperwork. Just saying.

I agree with you 100%. Although this is not a political forum, people are blaming the wrong one for that issue. It's the Republicans who are blocking things just to get him out of office so that the rich can continue to get richer on the backs of the working class.

I agree completely, if people would take the time to do some comparison shopping, instead of going straight into whine mode, they would see that the 4G LTE PlayBook is actually a pretty good deal. Granted, the discount offered by the Telco's for a contract are not at all competitive, but BlackBerry is not at fault there and people should take that up with those thieving Service Providers. As for myself, I have two data plans that are on a monthly basis (telus and bell). I'll buy the PlayBook out right and then the Telco that kisses my A$$ to my satisfaction will get my business, the other gets turfed. Putting up with a Telco's BS for three years for $200 just isn't worth it and besides, any device that is three years old, be it a phone or a tablet, became a paper weight about a year ago - as in hopelessly out dated.

Be careful when you buy anything from the carriers because they normally stick you with a "you buy purchase at least 1 month of service from us or we won't sell it to you." then when you get it they want 1 months notice after you receive your first bill so you in for the price of the device plus 2 months service. I know Bell and Rogers does this all their devices to people who walk in off the street to purchase them.

Don't be shocked to see the price drop, especially be Rogers. When the Bold 9900 came out, the price of phone was higher in the first week and it dropped by $50+ in the second week. They do this just so that people who really need this (ie, government and business people) will buy it at that price especially since most businesses pay for their phone services. I expect the price to be $299 or $249 in about two or three weeks.

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